Bradman tops, Tendulkar stumped

An empirical analysis has found Don Bradman to be the greatest cricketer of all time

An empirical analysis has found Don Bradman to be the greatest cricketer of all time. That isn’t news. The news is that the same analysis has Sachin Tendulkar outranked by compatriots in every parameter applied – and that Vinod Kambli figures at all. The analysis - The Bradman Class: An Exploration of Some Issues in the Evaluation of Batsmen for Test Matches, 1877-2006, written by economists Vani K Borooah, and John E Mangan - ranks 50 batsmen from all eras. Only five Indians have qualified in the top 50 on the basis of career averages, and Tendulkar, who is currently the highest run scorer in Tests, is not among the top-ranked Indian batsmen.

In terms of value of runs scored to the team, Virender Sehwag is India's top batsman ranked at No.6 , followed by Rahul Dravid and Tendulkar. On consistency of scoring, Dravid is ranked No.4 – no surprise there - followed by Tendulkar at No. 5. Sunil Gavaskar comes in at No. 11, Sehwag is at No. 12, and surprisingly, Kambli who played just 17 Tests for India, comes in at No. 13. In another ranking based on career contribution to the team score, Dravid and Gavaskar, who are both ranked No. 5, emerge as India's top batsmen. Then come Tendulkar and Sehwag, both at No. 6 with Kambli coming in at No. 8.